Student-athlete eligibility policy to be revised

JACKSONVILLE BEACH - One day after addressing a legislative subcommittee, Florida High School Athletic Association commissioner John Stewart told his entire board of directors of his plans to revise the athletic eligibility policy for international students at their general meeting Friday.

The revision is necessary, Stewart said, to alleviate any confusion over what public schools can and cannot ask of their student athletes. In an investigation of three overage students on the Immokalee High boys soccer team, FHSAA investigators found that Immokalee had not filled out EL4 forms for those three or any of its international students. The FHSAA requires that form for all students not born in the United States.

The association then discovered that no high school in Collier County filled out EL4 forms for any international student except a handful of foreign exchange students, and neither had several other counties.

Public school officials argued the current EL4 form, which asks for either J-1 or F-1 visas, doesn't work because public schools are prohibited from asking about a student's immigration status. Stewart said the revision, which will be ready for the board's meeting on Sept. 24-25, might include a third category for immigrant students.

"We might have to create this third category to protect school districts like Collier and other major school districts with a large immigrant population that doesn't fit neatly into these other categories," Stewart said.

Stewart's announcement came without debate or discussion. Jeff Malloy, the board's incoming president and athletic director at Oak Hall School in Gainesville, said a solution is necessary.

"I don't know if we have a good answer right now," he said. "That's why it's a good idea to look for a solution. We need to make sure our member schools feel they're not breaking privacy laws and still satisfy the FHSAA's eligibility policies."

In other action, the board voted to:

-- Raise the admission for cross country and swimming and diving championship meets from $4 to $5 at the district level and from $5 to $6 at the regional level.

-- Create a 3-point shootout competition for basketball season, contingent upon the FHSAA securing corporate sponsorship for it. Contestants will compete through district and regional championships and the four regional champions in each of the FHSAA's six classifications will compete at the state tournament for a state championship. Then the six classification champions will compete for the overall title.